As everybody knows, September is Jake Gardiner Appreciation Month. I kicked off JGAM by writing about how, contrary to popular opinion, Gardiner is actually very good defensively. As I discussed in that piece, Jake has had pretty big, positive defensive impacts over the past few seasons, comparable to some of the better defencemen around the league. This time around I'm going to talk about another area where Gardiner's impacts are impressive: how he lifts his teammates.

A few weeks ago, I completed an exercise using pGPS to look at the UFA prospects then Canucks General Manager Mike Gillis signed during his tenure at the time of their signings.

Seeing the have and have nots in terms of NHL potential proved an interesting endeavour. Unsurprisingly, Chris Tanev checked out as one of the better-rated prospects of the group when viewed through the lens of pGPS (Prospect Graduation Probabilities System) at the time of his signing.

In the comment section, and on Twitter, there were requests to do all of Mike Gillis's draft classes. Well, ask and you shall receive. Today's post will kick off a week-long series reviewing the 2008-13 draft classes with pGPS.

We wanted fast paced, high energy hockey, and boy, did we ever get it. This was a game that not only lived up to expectation but pulled up the rest of the games surrounding it to really drive home the World Cup of Hockey's entertainment value, if not its oft-debated "legitimacy". A quick run of goals for the Russians gave the young North Americans the chance to attempt a comeback for the ages, and they almost pulled it off but fell just short in a 4-3 defeat.

In a short tournament like the World Cup of Hockey, stamina is a major X-factor. Your legs need to be moving during the game, and from game to game, and any hesitance will burn you. For team North America and Team Russia, they'll have their gas tanks put to the test tonight, as they each play their second game in as many days in hopes of grabbing some much-needed points in their group. Here's what's going down:

When the World Cup of Hockey was announced immediately there were snickers and guffaws about Team North America, and doubts about their ability to hang with international hockey's big boys. When they had a few strong outings in the pre-tournament games against Europe, the doubters loudly expressed that their success was a mirage: caused by beating an inferior opponent in games that didn't matter.

When the "real" games begin, North America's in trouble, they said.

Whoops.

The Under-24 squad opened the round robin with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Finland, currently ranked 3rd in the hockey world by the International Ice Hockey Federation.